Category Archives: Food

Food Plans (or Working From Home Does Have Some Diet Benefits)

I’m basically only working from home now. It’s probably going to stay like that since any additional jobs I add on will pretty much have to be done while I’m working my other job (unless I find a night/weekend job).

I used to have such trouble with lunches when I worked outside of my house. Remembering to pack and bring my lunch was one issue. The other was the temptation of all the other food available nearby work.

I don’t have that issue anymore. My work hours are 10-3 and I don’t really get a lunch break. I’m able to step away from my computer to eat lunch, but I pretty much stay at my desk because I never know when a chat or phone call will come in.

Because of this, I’m eating pretty much at home for all my meals. My breakfasts on work days are almost always toast and peanut butter. It keeps me full and it’s not too bad calorie wise.

Dinners are a lot of prepackaged meals, but I’m still considering that better than ordering pizza or Chinese food delivery. I’m again being careful with the calories, but I know that there are things in the prepackaged meals that I don’t need.

Lunch is a little tricky since I am pretty much eating at my desk and have to stop every so often to help a customer. I’m working on finding things that I can eat over a long period of time incase I get stuck helping a customer for a long time. I’m really liking the egg white salad mix from Trader Joes. I eat that by itself with a piece of fruit (that’s exactly what I did yesterday). Also, the premade salads from Trader Joes are really yummy and don’t go bad or get weird if you don’t eat it all right away.

I’m finally out of my food rut of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I’ve told myself I can only have peanut butter once a day and right now, I’m really liking it for breakfast.

I know that I need to start cooking more and stop eating the prepackaged food, but I’m looking at this a baby steps. I haven’t had any fast food for a long time (easily over a month ago) and I haven’t been ordering delivery food either. I’m finally getting those bad habits out of my system.

Now I need to focus on the next step of introducing more good habits in. This is such a long process for me and I know that I need to be patient. I’m just trying to focus on the steps I have done so far and not how many more I need to go.

“The Theory Of Everything” (or The Fanciest Movie Theater I’ve Ever Been To)

Last week was full of movie screenings! First I saw “What The F@#- Is Cancer And Why Does Everyone Have It?”. Then I got invited to check out “The Theory Of Everything” in an advanced screening!

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“The Theory Of Everything” is the story of Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane. The movie was based on a book that Jane wrote about their relationship. I was super excited to see it, and I invited my friend Robert to be my plus one.

The screening was put on by Women In Film and held at iPic Theaters in Westwood. I knew that it was a fancy movie theater, but I had no idea how luxurious it would be!

I’ve been to some fancy movie theaters before, and I’m well aware that I am spoiled by that. But seriously, this was more than I could image! When Robert and I walked in, we realized that basically every seat in the theater was a leather recliner.

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We got there pretty early, so we were able to get 2 recliners pretty much right in the middle of the seating area. A few minutes after we sat down, a waitress came over to us. She explained that Women In Film was treating us to 2 drinks and whatever food we would like to order (up to a certain amount).

I was totally not expecting that!

So Robert and I checked out the menu on the iPad that was at the little table between our seats.

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I got a water (since I didn’t feel like having a cocktail in the middle of the afternoon) and some truffle fries. But there were so many food options available including entrees. I have no idea what the fries normally cost, but I’m sure they weren’t cheap. While we waited for the movie to start, we googled the theater and realized that the seats we were in usually cost $25 each for movie! Definitely not something that I could afford normally.

The movie started and soon after our food was served. And after that, complimentary popcorn was served too (I turned that down since I was happy with my truffle fries). We were definitely treated well at the theater! And I thought having waiters going around the theater during the movie would be distracting, but it really wasn’t. The way that the seating is arranged, the waiters are never really blocking the screen as they help other patrons.

And the movie was incredible! I didn’t know that much about Stephen Hawking before seeing the movie. Just some of the basics like he has a disease similar to ALS and that he is a scientist, mathematician, and a writer. But this movie covered his life pretty much from college until about his later 40’s. And his wife Jane was pretty amazing too! I actually downloaded the book that this movie was based on onto my Kindle as soon as I got home.

I have no doubts that this movie will be getting a lot of awards during awards season. I think it could totally win Best Picture at the Oscars. The performances were so amazing that at times I forgot that I was watching an actor play Stephen Hawking and not the man himself. It’s just so mind-blowing!

After the movie, Robert and I were in agreement that this was one of the most amazing movies that either of us has seen in a while, and easily the best movie of the year! The movie officially comes out in a week and I highly encourage you all to go see this movie!

Counting Every Calorie (or Seeing Things In Black and White)

The other day I seriously went crazy with food. Not just a little. Crazy to the point I felt sick.

Usually when this happens, I make sure that when I’m done I throw out any remaining “bad” food so I can start over the next day. And since I track my calories, I put in something into the MyFitnessPal app so it doesn’t show that I skipped a day.

That’s not exactly how things went this week.

First of all, I forgot to throw out all of the “bad” food. And so when I discovered it the next day, I decided to eat it for breakfast (I have no clue why I did this).

So I was already feeling pretty horrible about my day after eating something I shouldn’t have first thing in the morning. But I decided to make myself accountable for what I did.

First, I went back to the day before and entered in all the foods I ate. I went well over my calorie goal for the day, but at least I had a number to put to it.

Then I entered what I ate in the morning. It was over half of my calories for the day. But by having that information in, I found a way to manage my calories for the rest of the day so that with my workout that afternoon, I was just under my calorie goal for the day.

Taking the emotions out of food is really helping me. While I’m in the moment of weakness and eating what I shouldn’t, it’s a completely emotional experience (even if that emotion is being numb). But when I regain my senses, putting the calories of everything down really does help put things into perspective.

I could have easily said that I screwed up with my breakfast so why not screw up for the entire day. And I’ve done that over and over again. It’s so easy to believe that you will start being good tomorrow or after the weekend or after the holidays. But starting over right after the “bad” meal is really the best.

I hate that I’m still struggling with all of this. I wish that it would just go away. But the reality is that I will most likely have these issues for the rest of my life. Hopefully it won’t be as frequent as it is now (which is way less frequent than it used to be), but I have to allow myself to have slip-ups.

And at least by tracking everything I can see that I didn’t really screw up and that I can get back on track and still have a successful day.

More Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week)

After having my parents here for their long layover, I prepared for another family visit.

My brother and sister-in-law were coming to LA to attend a wedding.

They had plans to go to the USC game on Saturday and I had to work my box office job and babysit that day, so we made plans to get together on Sunday for brunch.

We headed to my favorite brunch place, Rush Street. They have the best tater tots and my brother is a huge Bloody Mary fan and they have a Bloody Mary bar there. We had a nice relaxing brunch and since my brother’s birthday was just a few days ago, I didn’t mail his card and gift so I could give it to him in person.

After brunch, my brother and sister-in-law had a few errands that they needed to get done. And since they didn’t have a rental car for the trip, I drove them around and helped them out. My brother has a couple of interviews with different hospitals this week and needed some more dress shirts (because he didn’t pack enough) and a nice folder for his resume. And since we were going to a clothing store for him, my sister-in-law and I shopped around for dresses because she has another wedding to go to this upcoming weekend.

After the errands, I took them back to their hotel so they could get ready for the wedding. My sister-in-law had to leave early from the wedding to fly back home, but since my brother has his interviews he was staying in LA a little longer.

So on Monday, I picked up my brother and we went to lunch together. It’s been a long time since he and I hung out just the two of us, and it was actually really nice just to catch up without other family being there too.

Then, I dropped him off at a car rental place so he could get a car to drive to Santa Barbara (where his interviews are). He heads back home this afternoon and there’s a chance he might come hang out at my house for a few hours waiting for his flight. I guess my house has turned into an airport lounge for my family.

It was so great to have so many family visits recently. While I did get to see my parents and sister-in-law last month, I hadn’t seen my brother is a while.

It’s always nice to have some family time, even if it’s only a few hours here and there.

Long Layover Visit (or Celebrating With My Mom In Person)

This past Thursday my parents had a couple of flights. The first flight brought them to LAX where they had about a 10 hour layover. So when my parents knew that this was the situation, they asked me what my plans were for the afternoon. And of course, I immediately cleared my schedule so I could get them and spend some time with them.

The first thing we did at my house was a project (of course). A drawer on my dresser broke and my dad said that he would work on fixing it. We were finally able to create a fix, but we really need to work on it when my dad has the time to go to the hardware store and get some proper things (right now, the drawer is fixed with tape).

Since it was a nice day out, we also took a walk around my neighborhood. My parents haven’t really walked around my neighborhood that much. Usually when they are over at my house, we are working on something and then driving to another activity. But since we had all the free time in the afternoon, we took a very nice walk.

It’s fun to see my parents seeing more about where I live. My mom grew up in LA, but not near where I live. So it’s interesting to see them discovering why I love my area so much.

After walking around, it was time for linner (lunch/dinner). My parents wanted something filling so they wouldn’t be hungry on their next flight, so I took them over to Westside Tavern. I’ve been there plenty of times (it’s right next to one of my favorite movie theaters) but my parents have never been.

And since we were celebrating my mom’s final chemo treatment and her being cancer free, of course she got some champagne.

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We had a nice relaxing dinner and then headed back to my place. We spent some time watching tv and I helped both my parents with iPad questions (which is how I “pay” for the house repairs my dad does) and before we knew it, it was time for me to take them back to LAX for their next flight.

Their layover on the flight back isn’t nearly as long as this one was, but I might get to see them again then. But if not, Thanksgiving will be here before you know it and I’ll see them (and Tucker!) for a couple of days then.

I’m just so grateful that I’m in a work situation right now that allowed me to take the afternoon off so I could spend it with my parents. It was a nice treat for me to get to see them and I’m sure that they preferred hanging out at my house over spending 10 hours waiting at LAX for their next flight.

Lunch and Learn (or Learning More About My Next 5K)

I was recently invited to be a part of a blogger lunch and learn for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K. I was so excited to attend since this will be my second year participating in this 5K.

The first part of the lunch and learn was the lunch section of it. We were brought back into a private room at the Hard Rock Cafe at Hollywood and Highland and we were given a sample of some of their appetizers.

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It was all super delicious (and my share of what was on our table was pretty much my meal for the day).

While we were eating, I was seated with 2 other bloggers and a representative from My Friend’s Place. My Friend’s Place is a center for homeless youth and is the official charity for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K. They were actually the charity for last year as well, but I’m embarrassed to admit that I signed up for the race because I wanted the medal and not because of the charity.

During lunch I learned a lot about My Friend’s Place including some of the programs that they offer to help get youth off of the streets and into safe places. I also learned that they are one of the rare homeless organizations that will let people bring their pets with them (although the pets do stay outside).

I was so interested to learn more about My Friend’s Place and fortunately the second half of the Lunch and Learn was a tour of the facility and to learn even more about it!

It was a short drive over and as soon as I got inside, I noticed how different it looked from other homeless organizations I’ve seen around LA.

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They make it as cheerful and homey as possible. We started our tour in the entry room where people come in each day (sadly, the center is only open during the daytime and weekdays right now).

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At the front desk, everyone can get clean socks and underwear. It’s the little things that can make you feel like a new person. We learned that they have to buy men’s briefs because they are cheaper, but they would love a donation of new boxers to give out (I’m hoping to make a Costco run to pick some up to donate). At the front they also have a mail service. Anyone who wants to get mail at their address can do so. And they can use the address to get a state ID card. I never thought about it before, but you cannot get an ID without an address.

Next on the tour was a room right off of the entry way. And it was not something I was expecting to see.

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A circus classroom! Cirque du Monde is a program that was created by Cirque du Soleil. While it might seem silly to have a circus program at a homeless shelter, there is a lot of good that can come from people learning circus tricks. Many of the homeless youth have not been in environments where they can trust others. But in Cirque du Monde, they have to be able to trust the instructors and have respect for the lessons.

After we learned a bit about the program, we were given a chance to walk on the wire in the room. I jumped up and was the first to go.

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It was awesome! I was able to go up and back and it felt amazing. After I went, all the other bloggers tried it out and realized how great of a confidence booster an activity like this is.

Next we toured the classroom where they have GED classes and tutoring as well as computers for the youth to use.

Next to that was the clothing room.

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While it looks full, they can always use more donations of clothes and shoes.

We then headed upstairs to see the mothering program room.

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They have parenting classes and are able to provide diapers for little kids. And they mentioned an amazing idea for people to donate diapers. When your kid outgrows the size of diapers you have at home, donate the extra ones so that they will have some to give out! They don’t mind that it isn’t a full box. Any diapers are helpful.

We also learned about some of the other programs that are available at the center such as legal aid, health services, life skills (like finding a job and permanent housing), and counseling.

Honestly, while I have volunteered at homeless shelters before, I never learned as much about homelessness (and homeless youth) as I did during the Lunch and Learn. I know that when I have money to donate to charity, this is going to be one of the first places on my list to get money. These kids need help and many times they don’t have anywhere else to turn.

I highly encourage everyone to learn more about My Friend’s Place and donate either goods or money if you can. And if you want to join me for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K, you can still register and get an awesome medal as well as help an incredible organization.

Happy Hour and Happiness (or I’m On Another Blog Now)

After working my at-home job yesterday, I headed over to the valley to meet my friend Rayshell for Happy Hour. I hadn’t seen Rayshell since my birthday party and we both had a lot of catching up to do.

It was a super fun happy hour. We were able to get drinks and food for $5 each. And of course, I had a Dirty Shirley.

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Sometimes the stress of working and trying to find more work makes me forget to go out and have fun with my friends. And this was the perfect chance to have a relaxing Happy Hour with an awesome friend.

We were catching up on my new job and Rayshell’s current job when my phone alerted me that someone @replied me on twitter. I glanced at my phone and saw that casting director Marci Liroff had included me in a tweet.

A little backstory.

Last month, Marci sent me an email asking about my tips and tricks for preparing for the fall tv season. I was more than happy to share my advice as well and send her the links to all the posts that I’ve written about the subject.

Marci thanked me and told me that she was working on an article for Backstage on the topic and asked what she could share of my advice. I told her that she could share everything that she wanted to. I feel like sharing my knowledge won’t hurt my career, so why not?

The article hadn’t gone up by the time the fall tv season started, so I thought maybe she changed her mind on the article. But at Happy Hour yesterday, that tweet was Marci sharing that the article had gone live and that it included advice (or as she put it “golden nuggets”) from me!

Of course, as soon as I saw that, I had to look at the article on my phone (Rayshell wanted to see it to).

And it’s awesome.

A lot of my advice in the article is stuff that I’ve shared on here before. But by having it in Backstage, the advice is reaching much bigger audience than I get here.

I was so excited to be a part of this article and honored and a little surprised that I was the only actor who Marci used for advice. I really feel like this means that I am doing the right things when it comes to research. And all this research will eventually lead to a great acting job for me.

I just have to be patient and be grateful that my advice is respected in this industry.

Another Set Back (or Why Can’t I Just Learn My Lesson)

The other day, I had another food set back. I had everything planned out perfectly for the day, but it just never worked out for me.

I shouldn’t have been hungry, but I was. And since I don’t keep a ton of food in my house (or many reasons), I ordered delivery food.

This was not a smart decision for many reasons. But at the time, it seemed like the only option to make myself not feel hungry anymore.

The food didn’t taste that great. It used to, but since I’ve been avoiding foods like this for a while, my body doesn’t crave them the way it used to. Even though it didn’t taste great, I ate it.

The one positive I’ve found out of this situation is that I was not able to eat even half of what I used to eat. I was too full and was starting to feel sick right away. So I did the only thing that sounded sane to me at the time.

I covered all the remaining food in household cleaner and put it straight into my garbage can outside. That way, the food would not tempt me any longer.

That night was horrible for me. I’ve had issues with my gallbladder in the past (many women on my mom’s side have had issues so it’s not a surprise that I do). I used to get gallbladder attacks a few times a year. I’ve been to the hospital for them, but it hasn’t gotten to the point where they want to remove my gallbladder (nor do I want to deal with any more surgeries than I have to).

I haven’t had a gallbladder attack in about a year or so. I was just talking to my mom about how many my gallbladder issues are gone now.

But that night, I had one of the worst gallbladder attacks I’ve ever had.

If you’ve never experienced gallbladder issues, you are lucky. The pain is incredible and it seems like no painkiller can help. The pain is in your spine and ribcage and there seems to be no position you can sit, stand, or lay down in to get comfortable. I spent that night in horrible pain and maybe slept for an hour or two total (in 10 or 15 minute spurts).

I know that setbacks are normal and that I have to understand that they will happen. But I’m hoping that somehow I will learn my lesson at least a little from this setback. The gallbladder issue was most likely caused by too much fat in the meal that I ate. And I know that other setbacks I’ve had in the past have not been as bad as this one was.

While I’m sure I will still have a craving for this food again (even though I know in my head that it won’t taste that good), I’m hoping that I will remember the pain that I felt after eating it this time. If it doesn’t prevent me from getting the food altogether, maybe it will help me eat less of it or to not order all that I did before.

But I am very proud to say that after this one setback I got back on track again the next morning. I didn’t allow myself to have a bad week because of a bad meal. And the weight that I gained from this setback is almost all gone now.

So maybe I have learned something from my past self.

67 Years (or Celebrating An Anniversary With Fondue)

This past Sunday was my grandparents’ 67th anniversary. I’ve been lucky enough to get to celebrate with my grandparents on their anniversary a couple of times. For their 50th and 60th, we had big events (their 50th was in Africa and their 60th was a family party in Portland). This year, we were doing a low-key dinner in San Diego.

That morning I went to breakfast with my parents and Krystle (and Tucker of course) and then we did some walking around at the seaport. Then Krystle had to get to the airport so she could get back to San Francisco. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to stay for the dinner because there weren’t that many flight options for her.

After saying goodbye to Krystle, my parents and I headed back to the hobbit house where we got all of us stuff together to go out that evening (and I packed my car since I’d be driving home straight from dinner).

We got to my grandparents’ place around 1pm and spent the afternoon talking. We asked my grandparents what their big memories were from their wedding and I asked my grandparents how they met (I had never heard that story before). It was really cool to get to hear them tell it and my mom actually took video of it so we can share it with other family members who couldn’t make it out to San Diego that weekend.

We all got ready to go to dinner and then we drove over to the place where the restaurant was.

We went to The Melting Pot for dinner. I had never been there and had never really had fondue before. My only experience with fondue was a single serving of goat cheese fondue that came with some bread at a restaurant once. But this was nothing like that.

We all decided to get the 4 course dinner (it was actually cheaper than getting 2 courses on our own). Between the 6 of us at dinner, we selected 2 cheese fondues to start with, then we each got our own salad. The main course was interesting. We each got to choose up to 3 meats and then as a table we got to choose 2 different cooking liquids. Then you had to cook your meat in the hot cooking liquids.

While it was fun, it was a little messy and crazy at times. All of us lost at least one piece of meat in the cooking liquid because we had so many fondue forks in the pot at one time. But it was pretty yummy.

After the main course, we were all stuffed. But we still had the dessert course to go. As a table we selected 2 types of chocolate (I don’t really remember what they were but they were both dark chocolate). Then they brought over a selection of cakes and fruit to dip into the chocolate.

The plate that my grandparents got had 2 candles in it for their anniversary.

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I tried a little of the dessert fondue, but I was only able to take a few bites since I was so full from the other courses.

Before we knew it, dinner was over. My mom and I left a little early so we could get our cars (we didn’t want my grandparents to have to walk too far to the car and it was parked in a parking garage). When my mom and I got our cars back to the restaurant, everyone else got into my mom’s car so they could all go back together. I said goodbye to everyone and made the 2 hour drive back home (no car breakdowns this time!).

I’m so lucky that I got to spend time with my grandparents on their anniversary. Since I live pretty close it makes it easy enough for me to come down to see them. I don’t think I’ll make it down again before Thanksgiving, but November will be here before we know it!

Yet Another Birthday Outing (or Enjoying Benihana!)

Last night was yet another birthday deal. It’s technically not as good of a deal as Truxton’s, but it’s pretty amazing.

If you are a part of the birthday club at Benihana (I think you just have to sign up with an email address), you get $30 to spend in your birthday month!

I haven’t always taken advantage of this birthday deal. The last time I did was a few years ago with my friend Erin (who does my hair) and her kids (who I babysit). Her daughter was old enough to enjoy it but her son was only a few months old, so he spent dinner sleeping in his stroller.

I decided that I wanted to do the Benihana deal again this year, so I asked Erin if she and the kids wanted to come with me. Her daughter, O, was super excited because she remembered it from a few years ago. Her son, K, was a bit hesitant at first. But as soon as I showed him a video of the onion volcano, he was sold on the idea!

It happened to work out nicely that we all had yesterday evening free (well, Erin’s husband couldn’t make it). We went to the Benihana in Encino since that’s pretty much half way between Erin’s house and my house.

Erin and the kids got there before I did, and when I walked in the door, I had a very nice greeting from O and K. K was so excited to see me, which was a nice treat because he usually doesn’t like when I come over to the house (he thinks that always means that his parents are leaving and I’m babysitting). And O was happy to see me as always.

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We lucked out at the table we were seated at. Everyone else was very entertained by the kids and the funny things they kept saying. K was very excited to see eggs being scrambled for the fried rice and kept going on and on about scrambled eggs for a while.

Dinner was very yummy. With my $30 I was able to get a strawberry lemonade and filet mignon (and all the sides that you usually get at Benihana).

Fortunately, everything that I had (including all the sides) were already in My Fitness Pal so I was able to keep on top of my calorie count for the day (I only went a little bit over).

After dinner, they brought out ice cream for the kids as well as for me (the birthday deal includes it).

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I had some of the ice cream, but didn’t take the leftovers home (like O and K did with their ice cream).

Overall, it was an awesome birthday adventure. I’m glad that Erin and her kids had a fun time. And anytime I get to hang out with them is wonderful to me.

I’ve possibly got one more birthday adventure before the month is up, but my calendar is starting to get full again! If I don’t get it in, that’s ok. I’ve definitely taking advantage of the birthday deals this month!